MYTH #7: Multiple auto or mortgage loan inquiries will hurt your score for each inquiry. The truth is the score was affected with older scoring methods, but now you can have multiple inquiries for an auto loan in a 30-day period and 45 days for mortgage loans which will only count for one inquiry as consumers often shop for a better rate. MYTH #8: It will take 7 years to improve my score. Most negative items will remain for 7 years. It is possible to remove negative information that is incorrect, past the statute for reporting or that does not belong to you such as a collection. What is being reported one day or even one month can disappear the next day with a dispute to the credit bureau reporting it. MYTH #9: A serious financial crisis like a foreclosure or bankruptcy will hurt your score for 7-10 years: There are ways to reestablish your credit and raise your score after a financial crisis. MYTH #10: “Checking my own credit report harms my credit score ."You can personally view your own credit as often as you want, and it won't affect your score negatively at all. MYTH #11: Consolidating into a low-interest credit card will increase your score. The interest rate of your cards has no effect on your score at all and opening a new line of credit will reduce the score for 6 months until the FICO® system starts adding points for on-time payments. MYTH #12: Going over the balances on your credit limits is ok because the credit company authorized the purchase. That is not true because what will show on your report is the amount of credit that you used versus your credit limit, and you will lose points for being over the limit.
Julie Macc Julie Macc, Certified Credit/Identity Theft Specialist and author is a recognized expert on credit reporting for both consumer and business credit scoring. She is the author of " DIY Credit Restoration", "10 Days To Fix Identity Theft" and currently writing a book on how to establish business credit with no personal guarantee. Her books include the same methods used at a law firm. Julie serves as an expert witness/legal consultant for law firms practicing consumer credit law in both federal and state court. She has been retained as an expert witness for more than 200 consumer credit litigation cases involving lenders, banks, collection agencies, each of the three major consumer credit bureaus, and third ‐ party credit furnishers. She has developed and led hundreds of credit score training seminars/courses for mortgage, banking and real estate professionals, as well as for general consumer audiences. She delivers keynote speeches at mortgage, real estate and other financial service industry meetings for both continued education training and to educate and update industry professionals on the current laws and reporting trends. Julie was elected to Chair the National Women's Money® Board of Directors. During her spare time, Julie loves spending time outside gardening and at my family's ranch "horsing" around with the horses.
While the consumer score you get free online is most often the “Vantage®” score, it scores differently than the FICO® score.
I hope these tips will help you on your financial journey.
Best Wishes, Julie Macc, Author of DIY CREDIT RESTORATION www.restartcredit.net
January/February 2023 | 25
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online